Ask Us Anything About GMOs!

There are currently 61 countries worldwide that label food that has been genetically engineered. Why would food need a warning if it was safe to eat?

Question Submitted By: SM1791 from San Francisco, CA ** Questions submitted to GMO Answers appear as written at the time of submission.
Questions are reviewed to ensure they conform with our house rules, but are never edited or altered by GMO Answers.

In fact, you’ve answered your own question in a way. There is no need for mandatory labeling in the U.S. because biotech food is safe to eat. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ensures that food labels are truthful and not misleading. In fact, the FDA would not allow a warning label on foods produced using biotechnology, because they are safe to eat. (FDA has information regarding its assessment of the safety of “Foods from Genetically Engineered Plants”). Our surveys since 1997 have consistently shown that a majority of Americans support the FDA’s policy on labeling foods produced using biotechnology. The FDA policy requires special labeling on biotech foods only when genetic engineering would introduce a trait not normally found in the conventional food. In that case the food would need to indicate the presence of an additional protein, nutrient profile or presence of an unexpected allergen, not whether the food was produced using biotechnology. FDA’s policy ensures that labels describe the facts about the product, not a production process, and also ensures that claims about the absence of biotechnology in food production do not falsely imply the non-biotech product is safer or otherwise superior. The bottom line is that all foods have to meet the same FDA or U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) safety standards, whether they are produced conventionally, using biotechnology or produced organically.

President & CEO, International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation

The Board of Directors of the International Food Information Council (IFIC) in Washington, DC elected David Schmidt as President & CEO effective January 1, 2006. Schmidt also serves as President & CEO of the International Food Information Council Foundation. Previously, he held the positions of executive vice president, vice president and director and has been a frequent speaker on a wide range of food safety and nutrition issues. Prior to joining IFIC in 1993, Schmidt served as the first Bush Administration's director of external affairs for the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.